Use Microsoft Fabric to simplify Excel-based billing system?

[Gf19]

Hi all,
I work at a small service company in Canada. Our billing process relies on a complex Excel system—many files, formulas, macros—that pulls data from multiple sources and outputs invoices. It works, but it’s fragile and involves a lot of manual copy-pasting.

We’re considering moving all our data into Microsoft Fabric to automate data ingestion and transformation. Once the data is in Fabric, I have two questions:

1. Can we keep using Excel, but now with cleaner, automated data feeds from Fabric to simplify the workflow?
2. Is there any way to rebuild the Excel logic inside Microsoft’s ecosystem (e.g., Power BI, Power Automate, etc.), or would we have to rewrite everything in Python (which we’d like to avoid)?

[v-nmadadi-msft · Accepted solution]

Hi @Gf19 

As we haven’t heard back from you, we wanted to kindly follow up to check if the suggestions  provided by the community members for the issue worked. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

Thanks and regards

[v-nmadadi-msft]

Hi @Gf19 

May I check if this issue has been resolved? If not, Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

Thank you

[v-nmadadi-msft]

Hi @Gf19 

I wanted to check if you had the opportunity to review the information provided. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions.

Thank you.

[v-nmadadi-msft]

Hi @Gf19  ,
Thanks for reaching out to the Microsoft fabric community forum.

You can ingest your data into a Microsoft Fabric Lakehouse, which serves as a unified storage layer for structured and semi-structured data. Once the data is loaded, Fabric automatically generates a default semantic model on top of the Lakehouse. This semantic model enables you to explore and analyze the data using familiar tools like Excel. By connecting Excel to the semantic model, users can create pivot tables, charts, and perform ad hoc analysis without needing to manually prepare or model the data  streamlining the workflow from ingestion to insight. This integration supports a seamless, end-to-end analytical experience within the Microsoft ecosystem.

For more information: Connect Excel to Power BI semantic models - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

To learn how to connect to Semantic model from Excel: Power BI semantic model experience in Excel - Power BI | Microsoft Learn

I hope this information helps. Please do let us know if you have any further queries.
Thank you

[AntoineW]

Hi there,

Thanks again for your question — your scenario is very common, and Microsoft Fabric offers excellent options to streamline your Excel-based billing workflow while improving stability and automation.

Let me address your two questions more precisely and expand with some key insights.

1. Can we still use Excel, but with automated, cleaner data from Fabric?

Yes, Absolutely ! and there are multiple ways to do it.

You can leverage the “Analyze in Excel” feature from Power BI (as shown in the screenshot), which lets you connect Excel to live Power BI datasets — including those backed by Microsoft Fabric. Data is cleaned and prepared through Fabric items and can be served in Excel.

You can also export data from Lakehouses or Notebooks in Microsoft Fabric to Excel-friendly formats (CSV, Parquet, etc.).

 

2. Can we rebuild our Excel logic inside Microsoft’s ecosystem (without rewriting everything in Python)?

Yes — and you don’t need to switch to Python to rebuild your logic.

There are multiple low-code/no-code alternatives:

1) Excel formulas (SUM, VLOOKUP, etc.) → Power BI / Dataflows Gen2

If your Excel logic is built on formulas like SUM, VLOOKUP, IF, TEXT, etc. — these can be recreated using DAX in Power BI, or even better, via Dataflow Gen2 in Microsoft Fabric, which offers:

• A familiar Power Query-like interface

• Step-by-step transformation logic (joins, filters, calculated columns)

• Easy reuse and versioning

• Scheduled refresh and integration with other Fabric items

 

2) For invoice generation

If your workflow includes generating printable invoices or formatted outputs, consider:

• Power BI Paginated Reports: pixel-perfect reports, ideal for invoicing

• Power Automate: to automate the export and emailing of invoices

Hope it can help you! 😊
Best regards,
Antoine

[lbendlin]

1. yes, you can continue to use Excel as a frontend for reporting. But keep in mind that Power BI/Fabric have limited data entry options.  You will likely need to continue (separate?) Excel files for that.

2. Trying to make one tool behave like another tool is called "Fighting the API".  It is ultimately a futile exercise.  Expect having to recreate your logic within the paradigms of the new tool (Power Query, data pipelines, noteboos etc). Fabric offers many things above and beyond Python.